Mastering the art
by Could do better
Summary: You know you're kids are safe when you've mastered how to kiddy proof you're house (and you're life), until then...well...the TV keeps them entertained for hours!


"Liam, are you listening?"

"…Oui?"

"Liam…Did you hear what Ah just said?" Anna was something of a godsend with the insides of a plane, jet or special type of transportation, but 9 year old children still eluded her,

"What?" The child standing before her bore a scary resemblance to what Remy would've looked like if he had curly hair and brown eyes,

"Liam, do you know anything about the download on here?" Anna had tried, she really had, but being in full time work and raising three children was more difficult than she had realised,

"No, but is it the one about a farting nun? Or…" Liam would talk in odd random tangents quite often,

"No...But I need to talk to you about them as well," Anna mused,

"Or, is it Nyam cat, or…or is it the one where Hitler throws a tantrum? Oh, is it the fish with no eyes?" The family computer had crashed and after rebooting it, Anna had come across several photos,

"No Liam, these were photos of a woman."

"What of?" Anna groaned, she had hoped to steer clear of any awkward questions,

"A woman."

"Oui, maman, Ah understand _that_ part. But what part of a woman?"

"The top half." Recognition lit up in his eyes,

"Oh, you mean the-"

"Yes but that doesn't matter. They are very inappropriate." Liam cocked his head to the side,

"What does inappropriate mean?" Anna sighed she had forgotten he was 9,

"Uh…not appropriate?" she answered,

"So it means naughty?" He asked,

"No, it means something that's not appropriate, not good…out of place."

"Out of what place?" Anna groaned,

"What place maman?" He asked again,

"Yes, it means naughty."

"Oh, okay." Liam ran off into the kitchen making engine noises as he flew a toy dinosaur through the air,

"Maman?" Anna jumped and turned round to find her youngest child sitting on the back of the couch in her pyjamas,

"Yes Jane?" Anna had reluctantly let Mystique name her only girl, it had the opposite effect on Mystique than what she had hoped,

Mystique had been arrested by SHIELD agents before Jane was born and in an effort to turn Mystique into a suitable grandmother they had let her name the child. If anything it had only refuelled Mystique's plans to break out of prison.

"When does the post arrive?" Unlike her sons, Jane had bright green eyes like her mother's while Liam had brown and her eldest, Jack, had a green on black left eye and a red on black right eye. They each had Auburn hair with either white streaks or a white patch,

"You can tell the time, why don't you see for yourself?" Jane took hold of Anna's wrist and studied the watch face,

"Post comes at 9, oui? And school starts at 8.45?" Jane looked up for some praise,

"Well done!" Anna kissed Jane's forehead and finally glanced at the watch herself,

Wow…was it really that late?

"You're ready for school right? You've had breakfast? Have you-Jane Why are still not dressed? Go, quickly!" Jane was plucked from the sofa and pushed through the door before she fully knew what was happening,

Anna then ran to the kitchen to search through the piles of stuff for the three lunch boxes they needed, she looked towards the kitchen table and mentally 'awwed', her eldest son, Jacques, was asleep over his school books, his long curly hair was thrown messily across his face and his lumberjack shirt buttons were done up in the wrong holes.

She slowly picked his arms off of the table and noticed what exactly he had been doing, drawing, but it wasn't just a quick sketch this piece of art was a drawing of Storm's daughter, Willow.

Apparently he got his talents from her, she hadn't noticed it but she was actually pretty good art. All she ever did nowadays was technical drawing, stuff like drawing engines and parts to fit inside planes, boats, cars and jets.

"Jacques. C'mon, wake up." He blinked his eyes open and rubbed a hand over his face,

"Quoi?" He asked, it was only now that Anna noticed the flushed cheeks, puffy, bloodshot eyes and sheen of sweat across his forehead.

Great.

Jacques had a cold.

She was gonna get a cold, Jane was gonna get a cold, Liam was gonna get a cold and finally Remy was gonna get a cold.

Great.

"Jacques, get to bed." She moved his chair out and pulled his arms off of the table fully making him sit up against his chair,

"Non, non, j'ai besoin de voir Willow…" He tried to stand up but only succeeded in slumping against Anna,

She moved his arm around her shoulder and started on her way to his room.

The thing about trying to half drag-half carry Jacques to bed was that he was bigger than Anna and therefore way more difficult to lift up the stairs than it would've been if she was carrying Jane or Liam.

She was suddenly jealous of Willow who had the knack for getting Jacques to move as fast at she wanted him to if she whispered the right things in his ear.

As desperate as she was to get moving and to get Jack into bed she wasn't about to implore tactics from a 16 year old girl.

In her time as a mother, Anna had cared for each member of her family when they had flu, even though she had flu herself, and bathing each person in turn in camomile lotion when they all got chicken pox at the same time, she was somewhat greatful that she had gotten over chicken pox as a child,

They didn't know it but she was the real reason their, albeit small, house was still standing.

But hopefully after Remy got his imminent promotion they could move to somewhere bigger.

But first she needed to re-paint the kitchen walls.

Yes, although her husband was a neat freak their house was not. The walls had scuff marks all over them, the floor was never clean and the carpets were stained beyond belief.

But through all their faults, they were her family and her responsibility.

10 minutes later, she was standing by the kitchen sink in her grease stained work overalls drinking a coffee.

She really needed to get these kids off to school.

But her coffee tasted _sooo_ good.

She could leave the school run for another ten minutes couldn't she?

Of course she could.


End file.
